Yven

[yvental]

Ephemeral and Eternity are always a pair

In summary, this is a post about newest Genshin WQs, and the theme it shared with Narzissenkreuz WQs

Disclaimer: this is sorely based on my own playing experience in-game quest without consider outside material. Just one personal view that cannot escape biasness, that all.

First, we need to agree on a single ground about Raumhilda-Zeitlind is a pair of siblings that directly foreshadowing the story between two shining Shades: Asmoday and Istaroth.

Raum = space

Zeit = time

In the quest "Long day in the mountains", Traveller and Lind invited to Temple of Space by Nihilita without much explanation through cube teleport. The temple itself is a museum of Teyvat civilization, so we can said Space of Asmoday is a microcosm of Teyvat.

Sound familiar?

Asmoday also did exactly that 500 years ago. She appears before the Twin, trapped them. Then for some reason, a Twin who is chosen got tossed to Teyvat and travel together with Paimon.

This is the first pipeline.

Asmoday ≈ Nihilita ≈ Raumhilda.

So based on both Nihilita and Hilda, we could extrapolate overall what happened to Asmoday.

Asmoday is the one who opens eyes and sees nothingless, and falls from grace. Opposite with Istaroth and Melanta, who right now still remain in Heaven.

The second pipeline would be:

Istaroth ≈ Melanta ≈ Zeitlind

Speaking of Istaroth, she is associated with melancholy quite directly as well. Through the image her shed tear in the Wheel of Fortune lunar card.

This is where Narzissenkreuz parallel kicks in. I think it's a bit hard for me to explain smoothly so stick with me a bit.

In this questline, Istoria and us, accompany Lind, at the same time, player can read between lines that Lind is suffering greatly of "melancholy", or, depression.

The quest explores a lot in this topic,

It goes as far as Hilda, the extrovert older sister, also suffered from this very melancholic after losing her fiancé. Zeitlind is very certain on the fact Hilda would not make it if she not "reborn" in the Temple. And is not hard to tell from the beginning of the quest and until the very end before giving up all her memory, Zeitlind still not change her mind on her...well...

Now, combine both Hilda and Nihilita story together: the older sibling who sees a certain truth, decides to fall from grace, then travels the world and leaves bits of clue behind.

Who among Narzissenkreuz kids fit this? Right, René de Petrichor.

(Not exactly in that order per se. But the events are similar enough to work.)

This is identical to the words Sandrone describe René: who sink into the abyss. She also describe Rene research is "absolute Nihil".

Oh and Caterpillar straight telling Narzissenkreuz is mentally ill too.

Fit just right with Hilda's depression.

Return to Zeitlind, and Istaroth, the quest itself can be experience as Zeitlind journey of tracing after her sister across Temple of Space.

This, also a parallel to Traveller traveling Teyvat after Abyss sibling tell them to see the truth of the world too.

At the end of the quest, Zeitlind ultimately make the same choice as her sister: forsake all her memory.

As well as answer the philosophy question in the similar manner that Istoria said he thought he talking with Hilda: save the world is save yourself.

(and this is the point of no return for me in this Asmoday-Rene, Istaroth-Alain rabbit hole)

I can't help but put Alain in the end of this Istaroth/Zeitlind/Melanta pipeline because:

As Sandrone mentioned, he too, was overwhelmed by depression.

He too, tracing back what Rene and Narzissenkreuz left behind, and create Pulonia. The mek to calculate "the unknown".

Both of Nzkz and Long day in Mountain shared this save the world theme. And Lind even quotes this:

This is a line written by Karasawa Eichi, one of Narzissenkreuz Ordo member. Not only that, Narzissenkreuz himself quotes this tenet before Traveller and Ann wake up Mary-Ann the Oceanid.

A small coincidence that Hilda/Rene are both extrovert(well, Rene is sort of natural born cult leader, so not-so introvert at least) and Lind/Alain are introvert.

Nihilita open eyes before falling, also can be read as because they possessed a new view-vision of the world.

Now, I might as well call back to Fell Dragon Monocle: Narzissenkreuz said Alain did not see his vision yet, so that is why Alain wishes to stop him.

Opposite with them, Melanta and Istaroth remain in Heaven.

In Alain's case, he is the last one remaining human. Someone remains to witness this story until the very end.

Well, Istaroth, as Ruler of Time, who is the sum of all things that happens and all the never be, sheds a tear at the end of time?(This line is originally Ved but hey, Istaroth crying in Lunar Card too)

Makoto and Ei's story also shared the skeleton of this trope. The whole one sibling leaves behind bits to guide the other.

[yvental]

Narzissenkreuz...but MHA AU?

Follow the steps of Mary-Ann, a young rising star hero-in-training in French, alongside Seymour, a thinking machine created by genius engineer Alain Guillotine, and a mysterious boy called himself Caterpillar, unravel the mystery behind the hero's world.Beside her neat blue hero costume, the most notable of her costumes is a ritual sword.

Mary-Ann Guillotine. Also known as Ann.

Quirk: hydrokinesis.

Mary-Ann spent most of her childhood with her childhood friends: Jakob, René and brother, Alain who was also in the care of the foster system.She doesn't have alot recollection before the moment Director Lyris and Vice-Director Basil adopted her.

Both Lyris and Ann have hydrokinesis type quirk. Ann tends to feel melancholic every time she uses hers.

Even though the blood flowing through their veins is not the same, René and Jakob were always like real siblings to her.

When both Basil and Lyris were called for a long-term mission, René and Jakob were adopted by Karl Ingold, while Emmanuel Guillotine took Alain and Ann under his wings. Because of Karl’s job, they departed for a few years before reuniting.

She was close with Carter. Both of them usually collaborate on getting Rene and Alain out of their research to touch grass.

In her teenage time, unlike her friends and brother, Ann is more inspired by the heroic deeds of the on-site hero more than academic research. She received the guidance directly from her adoptive father, a seasonal policeman.

In ■■■■■■ incident, 16 years old Mary-Ann was heavily wounded and MIA.

For some unknown reason, she awakens in the future 20 years later, a completely new world where the criminal rate is now much lower than her era with All Might influenced across the world.

Alain Guillotine — Lord-Artificer

Quirk: unknown.

Founding father of modern support gear. The genius moved the world of mechanical science after decades of stagnation since quirk first appeared among humans.

In memory of Basil Elton, he once hoped that with breakthroughs in support and protection gear, the hero survival rate in their mission would increase.

Legend says he was working in a great work after disappearing from the public eyes…

Carter Scherbius

Quirk - Illusion.

Alain’s assistant. Also one of the children Basil and Lyris took care under the foster system.

He was not very bright in science thinking, but his sincerity and genuine care won over the Narzissenkreuz Four heart, especially Alain and Jakob.

Disappear after ■■■■■■ incident.

Rene de Petrichor.

Quirk: Telepathy. He could “talk” directly into people's heads, no matter the language, they could still understand.

Carter once said, if anyone in this world geniuses could rival Alain, then that would be Rene.

His professional field is biology, especially in Quirk and it changed to the human body.

“Let's call this the transition to Neohuman for now” - Rene's investigation note.

Before Lyris took care of them, Rene and Jakob lost their family in the Poisson incident. They still had a physiological fear and aversion to firelight and smoke.

He chose to keep his old surname even after being adopted by Karl, as something to remind him about Renault de Petrichor, his mother, and the lovely town he was born in.

During his trip around the world with Karl Ingold, 12 year old Rene has discovered many great traits of Quirk evolution. For instance, he soon noticed the pattern in Quirk becoming more complex in the next generation. He also first read Quirk Singularity Theory during this time.

In the days they reunited in the Institute of Nature Philosophy, combined with Rene knowledge, Alain made many breakthroughs with customized support gear framework, later well-known as the national standard in heroic jobs.

His talent also attracted a few unwanted…existence.

He caught a lead of someone want to create a great monster, All-Devouring Narwhal, to cause a great catastrophe.

Rene disappear after ■■■■■■ incident. Status unknown.

Jakob Ingold, former Jakob Baker.

Son of vigilante Ecuador Baker. Rene’s assistant. A genius on his own.

Disappear after ■■■■■■ incident.

Narzissenkreuz.

He who guards the gate leads to the sea of tranquil universe.

A special intelligence multiple-Quirk Noumu. Possess hydrokinesis ability, memory transcript, Telepathy, and weak illusion control.

In desperate attempt to preserve Rene, Jakob created Narzissenkreuz through a similar technique used to create Noumu.

With his help, Traveller, Mary-Ann, Seymour and Caterpillar gather enough information to confront the All-devouring Narwhal with Neuvilette, the Ludex, the strongest hydrokinesis-user in French.

Caterpillar.

A mysterious 9 year-old-looking boy Traveller introduced to Ann. A survivor of ■■■■■■ incident.

He looks after Lanoire after her mother's death. He himself doesn't remember the past a lot.

.

.

.

The truth is, Caterpillar is a [Redacted] similar type as Narzissenkreuz. He uses something akin to illusion-control quirk to hide his real form, and Telepathy to replace his non-existent vocal cord.

The wandering heroes, Twin Traveller, Aether and Lumine.

And Paimon, Paimon is just Paimon.

The trio assistant by French Hero association to this region.

Helping Mamere to repair Seymour.

Playing with Lanoire. As a thanks, Caterpillar became their regular go to adviser.

Found Mary-Ann, and assisted her navigate in this new world.

And now…all the clues float across aglae sea are gathered.

[epicyonbeforeidie]

“A lamb will always offer itself for humanity, but never for the gods, even if in the end, its sacrifice is completely forgotten” Drawing of the Forgotten Heir of Kephale

We know almost nothing about Khaos, but from what little we do know, his story is one of the most tragic in HSR and in all of Amphoreus

[yvental]

I found his ending is sort of diabolical. They spam "Kephale will not forget" til 3.7 then literally forgot the elephant in the room aka the guy literally in the phrase.

[yvental]

Tea party

Sandrone habit holds tea party may come from/parallel with Alain. Coincidence(or not, history offer rhythm after all), her fate is not so different from Alain.

In Narzissenkreuz Institute, when the bell rang, Alain, Rene, Jakob and Mary-Ann will drop the role playing DnD game for tea time. After Cataclysm and everything cause by each the kids fight for their ideal, only Alain remain.

In the Fatui, Sandrone hold tea party with Signora/Capitano/Columbina/Childe and each Harbinger also gone for their own ideal.

Arlecchino got her fair share of death flag with her crimson moon power, Childe and whatever Project Stuzha and 3rd Descender. They are playable, but who know they can still remain human in long run—well, look at Narzissenkreuz/Master, Caterpillar and Lyris-Ann.

Look like fate of Alain Guillotine's creation is not so different from her creator.